Drivers beware: It's the season for deer/vehicle crashes

October 14, 2012|By Jon Cawley, jcawley@dailypress.com | 757-247-4635

Joe Ratzenthaler never saw the deer until it was a patch of fur inches from his face.

After an early November collision, the Bruton High School math teacher woke up in a Barlow Road ditch with a badly broken ankle that required a metal plate and eight screws to repair. His ankle was also dislocated and doctors had to "screw my heel back on," he said, while recounting the early morning wreck that occurred as he rode to work at about 45 mph. The deer died on impact, and Ratzenthaler's Suzuki Marauder was totaled.

"I never saw the deer until it jumped on my bike," Ratzenthaler said. "If it had been on the road, I could have laid the bike down. I never saw it. My brights were on. All of a sudden there was a patch of deer fur in front of my face."

Ratzenthaler said he believes the deer was standing on a roadside berm when his motorcycle passed. While his experience is unique in the details, it is typical of the often-erratic behavior of deer during the fall when incidents involving motorists spike.

Just Friday morning, Virginia State Police Trooper K.J. Johnson was injured in an Eastern Shore crash involving a deer on Route 13, in Northampton County. According to a state police statement, Johnson tried to avoid the deer, ran off the road and struck a tree. He was taken to Riverside-Shore Memorial Hospital with neck and back pain.

"Don't swerve. Driving reactions of people — swerving or losing control — can cause fatality, injury or it can total a car," said Matt Knox, deer project coordinator for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF). "Hitting an oak tree or other vehicle is a lot worse than hitting a white tail deer."

Rutting season

The end of daylight savings — which occurs on Nov. 4 this year — is the most dangerous time for motorists, especially commuters, because it gets light later and dark earlier, said VDGIF's Lee Walker.

"Deer are nocturnal. They move in the later hours of the day from dusk to dawn," Walker said. "It's breeding season, the time of year when they are very active in search of doe. During the rut, hormones start rolling, so they're focused on the process of breeding and they lose their sense of awareness. They'll chase doe across the highway and not think anything of it."

The VDGIF contends one-half to two-thirds of all deer-vehicle collisions occur in October, November or December. "While less than 2 percent of vehicle fatalities and injuries involve deer collisions in Virginia, hitting a deer can cause considerable damage to both people and property," a game and inland fisheries statement said.

That's an especially big problem in many of the state's urban areas — like Hampton Roads — that still have sizable deer populations. The VDGIF currently estimates Virginia's current deer population at approximately 1 million, and drivers have a 1 in 110 chance of striking a deer in Virginia , according to the most recently released State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company data from 2011. That ratio falls roughly in the middle among other states that range from West Virginia (1 in 53 odds) and Hawaii (1 in 6,267).

Data provided by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles shows there have been more than 13,200 reported vehicle crashes involving deer in the state between 2010 and Oct. 4, 2012. The data shows motorists in Suffolk run the highest risk of a deer encounter, in Hampton Roads, with more than 100 crashes each year in 2010 and 2011. James City County leads the count on the Peninsula with 55 wrecks total since 2010.

"Biological data indicates that deer herd condition continues to be fair to good," Knox Matt Knox, deer project coordinator for the VDGIF wrote in his 2012 Virginia Deer Season Forecast concerning Tidewater. "As has been the case in the past, deer crop damage and deer vehicle collisions remain major deer management concerns in this region."

Knox said, in a telephone interview, the entire lower peninsula from Charles City County down is an "urban deer hot spot" due to the number of areas including military and government facilities, National Park Service land and other areas like reservoirs where deer thrive.

Staying safe

To help motorists prevent becoming a deer crash statistic, the VDGIF offers these deer season driving tips:

•When driving, particularly at dusk and dawn, slow down and be attentive.

•Deer typically travel in groups, so if one is encountered, others are likely in the area and could pose a risk even if the first doesn't.

•Deer habitually travel the same areas so be careful when encountering Virginia Department of Transportation deer crossing signs.

•Apply brakes, even stop if necessary, to avoid a deer in the roadway but never swerve out of a lane because a collision with another vehicle, a tree or other object is likely to prove more serious than hitting a deer.

•Deer whistles have not been shown to be effective so rely on caution and personal senses to avoid accidents.

•Report any accident involving a deer, especially if the animal is killed, to local law enforcement or a conservation police officer.

•Drivers who hit and kill a deer may keep it for their own use as long as they properly report the accident to law enforcement and are given a possession certificate.

While November is the most likely month for deer-vehicle encounters to occur, with about 18 percent of all mishaps, State Farm says drivers can begin to relax again as winter progresses. Deer collisions are three times more likely to occur during November than they are on any day between Feb. 1 and Aug. 31, according to the insurance company.